Thermal management drives both power and maintenance operational costs. Telecommunications and networking devices primarily rely on thermal management through forced (fan-driven) air cooling. These cooling systems are protected by air filters to help prevent foreign debris (e.g., dust and other particulate matter) from contaminating interior surfaces, causing airflow blockage, and reducing cooling. Over time, air filters become increasingly clogged with debris, occluding system airflow and resulting in increased power usage or decreased thermal efficiency. Air filters are therefore changed manually on a regular basis, which incurs installation costs. Replacing a filter too early or too late both result in unacceptable and/or unneeded additional operation and/or installation costs. This inefficiency is multiplied by hundreds or even thousands of filters in a data center or other large-scale equipment deployments.